Liquidity preference and information

This paper explores the link between anticipated information and a preference for liquidity in investment choices. Given a subjective ordering of investment portfolios by their liquidity, we identify a sufficient condition under which the prospect of finer resolution of uncertainty creates a preference for more liquid positions. We then show how this condition might arise naturally in some standard classes of sequential decision problems

An Integrated Approach to the delivery of Child Mental Health Services

While these documents contain very welcome recommendations for the well being of children, they touch upon the issues of child mental health only indirectly. Further, they do not set up any priorities; nor do they offer any data, which would help to set up the priorities. One would have imagined that the mental health professionals would themselves have taken up the issue of priorities. What one sees is that while the professionals have fought valiant battles to safeguard the mental health of adult population, they have done very little for the mental health of children. In this context it is of interest that intense lobbying has been carried out for the care of children with developmental disabilities, so much so that mental handicap has become synonymous with mental health of children in the minds of the NGOs advocating the cause of the former, the authorities to whom representations are made and the population at large. One has no quarrel with the concern for mental handicap, but the effort seems to be unbalanced. One can only assume that if the mental health professionals had themselves taken part in this lobbying process, mental health issues could have been projected with as much enthusiasm as that of mental handicap. One must remember that in the West, a strong lobby for the cause of the mentally handicapped children arose as a part of an overall push for extensive and broad based mental health and counselling services for the children

Handmade tales : sustainable fashion through craft connections : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment for the degree of Master of Design, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

India is a country with an ancient history. The crafts of this country are diverse and are a reflection of the country’s cultural heritage. According to Dasra (2013), the craft industry provides millions of artisans with employment and is one of the largest small scale or cottage industries. For centuries, these craft communities have specialized in traditions that are specific to the regions and respective skills, which have been handed down from generations of artisans. Yet in recent years, as Wood (2011) notes, this sector faces a major threat as a result of growing preference for mass produced designs that are cheap and easy to afford. This has contributed to the steady decline of craft based products. This, alongside a lack of knowledge of new innovative ways to design, and decreasing demand for their products have left the craftspeople very vulnerable and has posed a big threat to their sustainable livelihoods. Integrating fashion design with artisan textiles can help regenerate the community and village culture while enhancing the value of products. This practice led research project offers a framework to meet the emerging challenges associated with ethical and environmental principles linked with fashion by incorporating sustainable processes used in traditional craft production. Importantly, it can also offer one strategy to support economic sustainability issues linked to the livelihood of craftspeople at the village level. The project develops an example of a sustainable fashion design process by drawing from the rich heritage of Indian crafts and focuses on developing a fashion collection that integrates artisan craft textiles into the design process. This reaches out to a market that is sensitive towards sustainability issues linked to artisan livelihood and fashion and values the handmade and organic as an alternative approach. This exploration of issues related to sustainability both for fashion design and craft is an attempt to uncover why developing a relationship between the two is significantly more relevant today than it ever has been

Un-Veiling Women’s Rights in the ‘War on Terrorism’

This thesis consists of an introductory chapter and four self-contained papers on temporary work agenciesand the economic analysis of law. Paper [I] adds to the theoretical literature on the incentives of Temporary Work Agencies (TWAs). Using aprincipal-agent model with hidden action to model two main types of contracts between a TWA and a ClientFirm (CF), the TWA is shown to potentially act against the best interest of the CF when helping to fill avacant position. The results also suggest that the adverse effect of the incentive misalignment is larger whenthe worker is going to be leased instead of hired by the CF. However, this effect could potentially be offsetby introducing a sufficient level of competition among the TWAs. Paper [II] uses individual-level data on young adults to estimate how the probability of being employed inthe Swedish temporary agency sector is affected by whether a partner or other family member has experienceof temporary agency work. The results show a significant effect from all peer groups of a magnitude thatcorrespond to the other most influential control variables. We also find that this cohort of the agency sectorhas a relatively high education level compared to the regular sector, and that there are predominately menworking in thissector. Paper [III] analyses possible effects on total employment, and the distribution between agency work andregular contracts as a consequence of the implementation of the EU Temporary and Agency Workers Directive in Sweden. The analysis is based on changes in the compensation to agency workers in a calibratedextension of a Mortensen-Pissarides search model. Even though the results suggest a negative net effect ontotal employment, the implementation is shown to increase (utilitarian) welfare, and an increased transitionprobability from the agency sector into regular employment will increase welfare even further. Paper [IV] focuses on settlement probabilities for different types of representation within the Swedish LabourCourt. Empirical estimates on a set of unjust dismissal cases show that private representatives are generallyless likely to reach a settlement than their union counterparts. The settlement probabilities converge following court-mandated information disclosure, which suggests that information asymmetry is an importantfactor in explaining differences in settlement behaviour. Privately instigated negotiations are therefore ingeneral insufficient for making cases with non-union representation reach the same settlement rate as caseswith union representation

DO AS I SAY NOT AS I DO: A CRITIQUE OF G-7 PROPOSALS ON REFORMING THE MULTILATERAL DEVELOPMENT BANKS

The paper addresses three key issues raised by the G-7 in its proposals in 2001 to reform the multilateral development banks: (i) the restructuring of the International Development Association (IDA), with a part of its lending in the form of grants rather than loans; (ii) the harmonization of procedures, policies and overlapping mandates among multilateral development banks (MDBs;) and (iii) the volume of support by MDBs for global public goods (GPGs) and the rankings and priorities among them. The paper argues that while in principle shifting a fraction of IDA´s resources to grants can address some of the problems associated with loans, these gains are limited. At the same time it poses long-term political risks for the World Bank. Moreover, the paper cautions that the more fundamental problem with IDA is the manner in which the IDA Deputies - the representatives of the donor countries - have been making policy decisions relating not just to IDA but also to the institution as a whole. The result has been a creeping constitutional coup that has fundamentally subverted the role of the Executive Board in the institution´s governance. The paper also questions whether developing countries in their quest for a larger IDA may not be sacrificing their larger interests in the global system. With regard to GPGs, the paper questions the degree to which the Bank´s research contributes to GPGs. It argues that there is little analytical and empirical evidence that the G-7´s priorities for GPGs would maximize the well-being of the poor relative to a host of notional alternatives. With regard to the harmonization of procedures and policies among the MDBs, the paper supports the harmonization of procedures, especially those related to procurement and financial reporting, while arguing that harmonization of policies and overlapping of jurisdictions should not be formalized. The paper further argues that increasingly stringent compliance standards of the international financial institutions are imposing high financial and opportunity costs on their borrowers. It is easy for the major shareholders to insist on standards whose costs they do not bear. The most inimical aspect of this pressure is that it has forced the Bank to shift lending towards sectors where it has little comparative advantage and away from the very sectors where it does have comparative advantage.

REMITTANCES: THE NEW DEVELOPMENT MANTRA?

Remittances have emerged as an important source of external development finance for developing countries in recent years. This paper examines the causes and implications of remittance flows. It first highlights the severe limitations in remittance data, in sharp contrast to other sources of external finance. It then examines the key trends in remittance flows, and their importance relative to other sources of external finance. The paper subsequently analyses the many complex economic and political effects of remittances. It highlights the fact that remittances are the most stable source of external finance and play a critical social insurance role in many countries afflicted by economic and political crises. While remittances are generally pro-poor, their effects are greatest on transient poverty. However, the long-term effects on structural poverty are less clear, principally because the consequences of remittances on long-term economic development are not well understood. The paper then concludes with some policy options. It suggests a role for an international organization to intermediate these flows to lower transaction costs and increase transparency, which would both enhance these flows and maximize their benefits

Developing Countries in the New Economy: The Role of Demand-side Initiatives

ICT, developing countries

Customer anger and incentives for quality provision

Emotions are a significant determinant of consumer behaviour. A customer may get angry if he feels that he is being treated unfairly by his supplier and that anger may make him more likely to switch to an alternative provider. We model the strategic interaction between firms that choose quality levels and anger-prone customers who pick their supplier based on their expectations of suppliers' quality. Strategic interaction can allow for multiple equilibria including some in which no firm invests in high quality. Allowing customers to voice their anger on peer-review fora can eliminate low-quality equilibria, and may even support a unique equilibrium in which all firms choose high quality